Translate

Network Blogs

The University of Maryland has announced that more than 300,000 records including staff, affiliated individuals, and students were breached during 19th Feb 2014 attack.

President Mr. Wallace D. Loh said in a statement that only personal information of people was breached, but academic, health, contact, and financial records remained safe during this attack. The information about the data breach received from Brian Voss, a vice president of information technology. The records contained name, SSN (Social Security number), date of birth, and University identification number.

The university technical experts immediately handled the matter with diligence and cautions. Even law enforcement authorities are also investigating in this matter. Computer forensic investigators are investigating log files to resolve how attackers gained success in avoiding security defenses.

The university is now providing a one-year security monitoring service to affected people. The additional information about activation of monitoring service will be provided within next 24 hours.

The university has put FAQs at its website www.umd.edu/datasecurity and provided a number 301-405-4440 for any question and comments.

University also recommended some tips to people that are as follows.

Do not share individual information over the phone and email.

To verify the person always ask for a callback number.

If any text is of no use, then delete it immediately.

Never respond to unknown emails.

Cyber crime becomes a headache for organizations, institutions, corporate, SMBs, and for all other sectors. There are millions of records were breached during 2013 year, and security analysts also expecting more data breaches in the year of 2014. In this situation, it is desirable to consider security precautions for both users and organization side to avoid cyber crime.

User should gain more knowledge to keep their data safe online and even stored data in PC, Mobiles, Ipads, etc.

For organization, SSL or secure socket layer is an option to encrypt the data during transitions. Outsiders will not be able to interpret your record, when you keep it in an encrypted form. SSL security Certificate provides a security layer to your online data, so cyber culprits could not use it in an illegal way.

In September and October 2013, Facebook had a dramatic price rebound, and the Twitter IPO has been in the news. The basis for unlocking social media company value is using models of successful advertising.

Social Media and Advertising

Companies that deal in social media are legitimate websites on which to advertise, just like Yahoo or Google. Facebook and now Twitter will make money the same way that Google already does. Advertising on the Internet is a rapidly growing market. 89% of advertisers in a 2013 Nielsen report use free advertising in social media, and 75% use paid advertising in social media. 64% of companies surveyed also stated that they expect their paid advertising budgets for social media grow throughout the rest of 2013.

Turning a Profit with Social Media

This can be an elusive goal for some people. It is much easier if you just picture social media like the big party it can be, and fit in. Don’t try to be the life of the party, though. You’ll need to learn to use the proper tools in order to make money through social media.

Leave People Wanting More

When you are using social media to promote your company or site, share things that are interesting to other people, and that have value to readers. Social media works on the pay it forward theme. Giving away valuable stuff is a good idea to get attention. Give people things with no strings attached, and they may become faithful followers.

Be Yourself

Social media cannot be used in the same way as traditional advertising. It doesn't feel or look the same. Social media sites form a community that is designed to share entertainment, expertise, information, support and comfort. You’ll need to develop a unique voice to stand out in a good way through social media. Write like a real person so that people can relate to you. Don’t be afraid to share mistakes and show your sense of humor.

Engage People in Social Media

Your target audience, once identified, should become involved with you. Ask questions and end blog postings by asking people for their feedback. Participate in discussions and make it easy for others to do the same. Using plugins to allow site visitors to comment through their Facebook profile makes it easier for people to comment, and increases the engagement of your followers. Use premium WordPress themes that attract people who are likely to do business with you.

Stay with Your Target Market

You will be more successful with social media if you go where your target audience can be found. If your traffic is up on Facebook but down on Twitter, focus on the one that is bringing in more traffic. If more people from Facebook buy from you, then there is your target market. If you have a faithful group of customers, consider them your social media marketers, and share great content with them.

Trust Is Vital

It is vitally important to gain the trust of people who may become your customers. Marketing is not a trusted area, since online vendors have always made big promises and have not always lived up to them. Companies online have a lot they need to do in order to make up for that.

Always Be Planning

There is no such thing as too much planning. Update your approach as things change. Meet with your clients at least monthly, to review current results and plan for new campaigns. You won’t be able to optimize your opportunities if you put your Facebook plans on autopilot. Contingency planning is also important. Marketing in social media is less predictable, by nature. You should be ready with a prompt response if anything happens out of the ordinary.

About author:

Anny Solway is a dedicated writer at ThemeFuse – a leader in the WordPress premium themes area. She likes to discover new ideas about internet marketing, social media and blogging.

A security research team found a new malware called “Cryptolocker ransomware” that has infected more than 200000 PCs by stealing over £600,000 in Bitcoin. According to Dell Secure Work’s counter-threat unit the malware is developed in Russia or Eastern Europe. In fact, the infection has started earlier in September 2013.

Ransomware is a new type of malware that locks away essential files on a victim’s PC. The malware aims at mapped drives, Dropbox files, and all locally connected, network attached, or cloud-based storage. The files remain locked until victim fulfills the demand of payment within 72 hours.

The concern about this malware is antivirus programs cannot remove it. Even if the victim wishes to root his PC, he cannot gain access to those encrypted files located on Cryptolocker servers. The victim can access files only if he pays the ransom amount.

According to Secureworks, the author of Cryptolocker ransomware has made strong software by using a third party certificate issued by Microsoft’s CryptoAPI. The certificate carries 2048-bit RSA public key, which is also approved by CAB forum and all leading web browsers. The author has put FAQs section for answering to question on online forums.

According to Secureworks, this malware has infected almost 250,000 systems in the first 100 days since its inception.

It is believed that the author of this malware has demanded $300 to decrypt files of victims, which were initially at $100. Cryptolocker ransomware can also increase though social media hyperlinks that seem malicious and spam mails.

Finally, if we count evolving malware, the hackers are now reaching on advance level, and the time has come to make aware innocent people who blindly trust cyber world. Hackers are always in search of such users who are not still aware about rising cyber crime. There are a number of antivirus makers are now working on this ransomware but it feels that it is not an easy task. It is sensible to update your patches and update your PC released by Microsoft to prevent from such ransomware.

"BlackBerry may or may not be your platform of choice, but you must hand it to them for managing a great global outreach. The release of their latest OS, the BlackBerry 10 OS along with a new series of handsets, has the world talking. What once was a company doomed to failure looks like a corporation that is dusting itself off and is getting right back on the horse.

A lot of criticism later, the folks over at BlackBerry introduced a number of third party apps to keep the users happy and to simultaneously dip into the world of apps. Another featured service that Blackberry has a claim to fame for is its instant messenger service the BlackBerry Messenger app. It has always been considered one of the first free platform messaging services and has always been generally safe and BBM spy free- -which is a reason that BlackBerry has managed to remain an enterprise favorite despite its past failure in the general market.

BBM and the New Frontier:

Recently, some interesting news has hit the market concerning BBM and the company’s attempts to magnify it for a larger audience. The BBM service is now set to hit iPhone and Android users as well- -hence becoming the definition of a cross platform app. Previously it was only applicable for use if the user wished to contact someone else that owned a BlackBerry handset. So by the end of the summer, you should be able to use your BBM to message and chat up friends with iPhone as well as Android handsets.

Some may speculate that this is a desperation move by BlackBerry but the stats don’t necessarily tell the same tale. At the moment the service has more than 60 million active users and hence is still going strong. This is a facility which allows users to send free real time messages to their contacts through a PIN code and hence is used widely by BlackBerry users, especially in areas such as the Middle East where the handsets are a success and owned by a majority of people.

The Big Question:

At the moment the entire switch and availability needs to be approved by Google and if it is then it will be a free download available at the Google Play store. Now will it really manage to make a splash and go the distance so to say on Android, a platform that is already known for rampant third party apps? Perhaps it may and perhaps it may not. If we look at the state of Android apps, then the sheer number of messaging apps that are available seem to spell disaster for BBM’s foray into the Google app ocean.

Users who wish to contact their BlackBerry counterparts generally use services such as Viber or Skype. Since WhatsApp has made its way to BlackBerry there has been a general ease in texting between the platforms but has not necessarily been a surefire solution. This outsourcing of BBM availability might indeed prove successful but the chance that already active Android users will spare time for BBM is a bit unlikely."

About Author: Jessica

Jessica is a writer for MobiStealth and has been a BlackBerry fan for a decade now. She writes news based and how to articles for her audience. She can be contacted @jcarol429.

10, June 2013. In May, the speculation was circulated that Facebook is going to buy Waze for $1 billion. However, according to Haaretz reports, Google has finally prepared to buy Waze at $1.3 billion. However, Facebook wants to shut the operation of Waze in Israel and start the operation in California. Nevertheless, the deal fell apart because Waze wants to have its operation permanently located in Israel. In the middle of this rumor, there was also a speculation that Apple is also going to purchase Waze for $500 million.

Waze is used for catching satellite signals of member’s Smartphone that is used for generating map and data traffic. The deal between Google and Waze happened on the base that Israel would remain its service in Israel for next three years. The deal would be useful to Google as it integrates map editors and provide new resources for the service. If this deal happens, it will be a major step in Israel country towards technology and new start-ups and of course the highest profile acquisition in Israel.

The mere question is will Google shut Waze after three years extension after incorporation. It is all about future concern but the history said that Google has shut down its acquisitions after incorporation. Google wants Facebook to use Google navigation system by containing Waze’s technology into Facebook.

Since, the last year Waze has made tremendous changes in map by adding 500-million map editions across 110 countries. Waze also raised an amount of $67 million by venture capital and has portfolio of investors like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Blue Run Ventures, and Vertex Venture Capital. The company has a portfolio of 50 million users in today’s time.

Currently Mashable contacted Google and Waze about this deal but Waze did not respond to its request while Google told Mashable about not to believe in rumors and denied the speculation of such deal. However, there is no smoke without fire and according to leaks and reports, Google and Waze have considered many points for this deal, the only question is that at what price?

No matter what the result will emerge, there is a directly advantage to Google in terms of GPS navigation and community based traffic. It will be a big leap in Google’s mapping and traffic service as Waze has millions of drivers over the world giving out real-time road info.

In current scenario, Internet threat is evolving rapidly around us. No one seems secure whether on social media, email account, websites, smart phones or any internet platform. How internet threat has affected the world is shown in this info-graphic. This info-graphic is designed on the base of deep research on Internet Threat Trend-2012. You will also get ideas how we can prevent our online business and other online activities by being cognizance of such threats.

The world of social networking is expanding day-by-day; either it is Facebook, Google+ or twitter. People are connected deeply with social media. A newbie something called “Pheed” which was set up last year but found in Apple store’s social networking class. It was launched in los-Angeles, California and within a week Pheed got 5 million new users. Pheed is a platform of local and creative individuals which includes photographers, artists, musicians, models, and designers. In a month of launching Pheed has achieved the top 10 social media application in the USA and the top 100 application over 33 countries.

Pheed allows users to share text, photo, video and audio clips even user can make a live broadcast. The application has become popular among teenage however company declared that Pheed is merely not for teenage but comprising the age up to 25 years. Currently Pheed is available for free online on both website and mobile application. Pheed initially got publicity on twitter via teenagers considering Acacia Brinley, Pia Mia, and Garrett Back storm. According to company 81% of popularity of Pheed is due to youngsters. Users can subscribe to other users’ channels and consider their subscribed channels’ content in actual time.

One other gorgeous feature on Pheed is that it permits users to charge $1.99 to $34.99 for logging in their ‘channels’, one can prefer either pay-per-view or a monthly subscription. Many celebrities including Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton are at present on Pheed with hundreds of subscribers. The question is that will users follow celebrities with paying up to $34.99 as they can follow them on Twitter also.

Pheed use slogan “Express yourself” encourages users to post unique content even there is also a copyright button that users can use it to copyright the content.

When one thinks of blocked websites, you usually think of adult sites. However, you, might be surprised that many “normal sites” are blocked merely for daring to connect the world. Sites that encourage interaction are often censored, as are sites that feature controversial subject matter.

Two of the sites you would think to be anything but controversial are among the most blocked sites in the world: Facebook and Twitter. To you, Facebook and Twitter may only be social networking companies that help for further online discussion. However, these social media tools are often used for controversial purposes: like sharing adult content, or helping nurture rebellious causes, or reporting on questionable dealings.

In addition to social media sites, download sites such as BitTorrent and Mega Upload have also been banned, since many (if not most users) who use such sites download copyrighted content. Recently, Mega Upload felt the wrath of the U.S. Government acting on behalf of Hollywood and the music industry, by closing the site down and indicting the owner. (This happened despite celebrities speaking out for Mega Upload’s defense)

Video content sites, though they may not even share an illegal sharing, still merit government attention for the content they promote. YouTube and other video sharing sites have also been banned because of its controversial content, both amateur (videos of government atrocities) and even professional shows that it just happen to be banned in the country of origin. (China and the Middle East are both notorious for banning certain U.S. shows)

The advantage of VPN services is that they allow you to surf the Internet anonymously by cloaking the IP address. Only the VPN company itself knows what you’re doing and the best ones make it a point to erase all logging information concerning your visits. In addition to cloaking IPs, VPN hosts also allow users to securely upload and download information. This means that you could access banking information (and other sensitive information) securely through encryption.

Laws are quickly changing, and the U.S. has been one of the most engaged countries on the issue of government censorship, followed by Britain and Australia. U.S. lawmakers have tried to pass several controversial bills that empowered the state to censor questionable content. If this trend continues, it may reach a point where certain websites that feature heated political commentary or other “whistle blowing” themes might be banned entirely.

No wonder users are looking into VPN security—the freedom to surf of your own free will!

About Author: Veronica Clyde

Veronica Clyde reviews the best VPN providers at VPNServices.net. She loves to share Online Security, VPN technology and Blogging tips. If interested you can check out a Hide my ass.com review.

If you have a social media profile set up for your business, it's natural for you to want to integrate it into your WordPress site. In fact, it makes good business sense. You have several different options for promoting your blog via social media and vice versa. Here are some of the popular ones.

Social Media Plug-ins:

Social media is so important to business these days that most Premium WordPress themes – the professional ones, in particular – include the ability for you to make it easy for your blog readership to share your posts on their social media profiles. You should definitely include these plug-ins on your WordPress install. You can also take a look at WordPress themes that are designed specifically for compatibility with social media sites. It's not a bad idea to put up an extra site if it gives you this capability.

Advertising on Social Media:

Advertising on social media sites can be done in several different ways and, done properly, it can promote your blog for relatively little money. The trick is to make certain that the promotional materials you're putting into people's news feeds show up. The procedure for doing this changes all the time. Make sure you check any updates from Facebook – because this is the one that people really worry about – and confirm that you are posting correctly and that your users have done what they need to do on their profiles to be able to see what you add to their news feeds.

The other option is advertising via purchased spots on social media sites. In reality, this hasn't been shown to be very effective. Thus far, people seem to have decided that they go to social media sites to socialize and not to shop. Ask someone when the last time they clicked on a Facebook ad was and, in all likelihood, they may well say "never".

If you want to get more publicity for your blog off of social media sites, your best bet is to take a look at the WordPress plug-ins available to help you do that. These can generally be added to your WordPress theme for no cost at all and, of course, that makes it a great option for advertising. Remember that you should have an easy way for people to share your posts at the bottom of each post and that you should have a sidebar plug-in that allows them to instantly follow your profile on any social media site on which you are active.